Uber has spent billions in China — a Bloomberg source said it is losing $2 billion in the country to date — so it looks like the same reasons are behind this second merger deal, albeit that the potential repercussions are very different. Offloading its Chinese unit could put Uber on track to finally list as a public company. The U.S. firm said last month that it is already profitable in Western markets and, with China its biggest money-drainer and weakest market from a competitive standpoint, a major question mark around its business will be removed if this deal goes through.